


Break Your Heart

by klatukatt



Category: The Magnus Archives (Podcast)
Genre: Lonely!Martin, M/M, hurt/angst and no comfort, some body horror, the archivist dies, this is the hill i will die on
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-21
Updated: 2019-05-21
Packaged: 2020-03-09 05:30:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 613
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18910531
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/klatukatt/pseuds/klatukatt
Summary: John dies while Martin watches.But it's worse than that.





	Break Your Heart

“Martin, help me.”

The dull ache that had always pulled Martin towards John was muted now, even in this most desperate hour. Martin didn’t know what kind of ritual he had interrupted but he could see the Archivist rising into the air; the eyes that had covered him in his coma were back, but Martin watched each eyeball burst and from that tear a swollen tendril emerged, ripping at the skin around it. John’s body twisted in the air, screams strangled by his own mangled flesh.

Martin should be panicked, rushing in to save John, or at least running to get help, but instead he found a sharp, hard emotion inside that rooted him to the spot. It was a pain, a fear, that had been growing in him for months, and it stabbed at him every time he turned away from John. Martin knew it was the Lonely, but it was also his pain, his own choice to feed it. What he didn’t know is it had also been cutting away at the thick coating of silk around his heart.

Now, at this turning point, the remnants of the Web were stripped away and Martin stood staring in disgust at what had brought him here.

John knew none of this and, his body now a twisted knot, reached out for help as he had failed to do so many times before. It wrapped around Martin’s leg and pulled too hard, smashing him to the floor.

“Get off me!” Martin screamed as he kicked the tendril away. His foot was sending odd signals up his leg but anger and betrayal were more potent at this moment than any physical pain.

Massive eyes resolved themselves from the tangled mess that was the Archivist and Martin knew those eyes were John’s.

“I’m not helping you. I can’t, and I won’t.”

The eyes closed and the mass begin to twist tighter and tighter. It squirmed and shrunk until the point where it was no longer visible, and probably no longer real.

Martin breathed. A very real sense of exhaustion was beginning to set in and as he tried to stand he realized his ankle was actually broken. Martin began to cry, half laughing at the fact that his new sense of resolve and purpose didn’t stop the emotion from leaking out his eyes. He crawled up the stairs to a place where his phone could get reception and called an ambulance.

* * *

 

When the archive staff came to visit him in the hospital of course they had questions, but Martin had been playing the sap so long it was easy to get them off his back. All they needed to know was John is gone.

Peter hadn’t come to see him, just sent a text: “Death is part of your Becoming. Take your time.” Cryptic and spooky but helpful.

“Nurse? Could you help me out to the garden?”

It was raining outside, something that made the nurse look miserable and uncomfortable. They parked the wheelchair under the small overhang next to the door. Martin zipped up his jacket.

“You okay out here in this mess?”

“Yes. I like the rain. It keeps people away. I’ll just sit outside by myself for a while, if you don’t mind.”

“Okay.” The nurse gave him a strange look before heading back inside. Martin smiled, knowing the nurse would find themself wandering empty corridors and chasing after sounds that meant nothing. He had spent too long in hospitals, he thought to himself.

Martin stood up on his rapidly healing ankle and stretched in the downpour. As he walked away he dropped his phone in a puddle. He wouldn’t need in now.

**Author's Note:**

> This is the hill I will die on. Martin was always coerced into loving John and I can't wait until Jonny stamps our hearts into the ground once Martin regains his free will.  
> Remember, "There are things so much worse than death." -Jafar


End file.
